If Blood Should Stain the Wattle
If Blood Should Stain the Wattle

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2016-12-01

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 1460705939

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It’s 1972, and across Australia the catchcry is ‘It’s time’. Time for old folk, time for young folk, time for a new, idealistic Labor government. In Gibber's Creek, it's time for Jed Kelly to choose between past love, Nicholas, the local Labor member, and Sam from the Halfway to Eternity commune. And for Scarlett O'Hara, it's time to dream that one day she becomes a doctor - despite being in a wheelchair. It's also time for matriarch Matilda Thompson to reflect on the life that took her from the slums of Grinder's Alley to the events that began a nation at a billabong in 1894. The 1970s was a time of extraordinary ideals of a better world, but as the ideals drifted from disaster to the Dismissal there were deep conflicts about what that better world might be. Jackie French, author of the bestselling To Love a Sunburnt Country, has woven her own experience of that period into an unforgettable story of a small rural community and a nation swept into the social and political tumult of the early 1970s.

The Girl from Snowy River (The Matilda Saga, #2)
The Girl from Snowy River (The Matilda Saga, #2)

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 2012-12-01

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 0730493768

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In the tradition of The Man from Snowy River comes a gripping and courageous sequel to A Waltz for Matilda The year is 1919. Thirty years have passed since the man from Snowy River made his famous ride. But World War I still casts its shadow across a valley in the heart of Australia, particularly for orphaned sixteen-year-old Flinty McAlpine, who lost a brother when the Snowy River men marched away to war. Why has the man Flinty loves returned from the war so changed and distant? Why has her brother Andy 'gone with cattle', leaving Flinty in charge of their younger brother and sister and with the threat of eviction from the farm she loves so dearly? A brumby muster held under the watchful eye of the legendary Clancy of the Overflow offers hope. Now Flinty must ride to save her farm, her family and the valley she loves. Set among the landscapes of the great poems of Australia, this book is a love song to the Snowy Mountains and a tribute to Australia's poets who immortalised so much of our land. The Girl from Snowy River combines passion, heartbreak, history and an enduring love and rich understanding of our land. PRAISE FOR A WALTZ FOR MATILDA '... this absorbing saga abounds in social and historical detail' -- Magpies

A Waltz for Matilda (The Matilda Saga, #1)
A Waltz for Matilda (The Matilda Saga, #1)

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 2010-12-01

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 0730493962

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The story behind Banjo Paterson's iconic Australian song. 'Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong Under the shade of a Coolibah tree And he sang as he watched and waited till his Billy boiled You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me...' In 1894, twelve-year-old Matilda flees the city slums to find her unknown father and his farm. But drought grips the land, and the shearers are on strike. Her father has turned swaggie and he's wanted by the troopers. In front of his terrified daughter, he makes a stand against them, defiant to the last. 'You'll never catch me alive, said he...' Set against a backdrop of bushfire, flood, war and jubilation, this is the story of one girl's journey towards independence. It is also the story of others who had no vote and very little but their dreams. Drawing on the well-known poem by A.B. Paterson and from events rooted in actual history, this is the untold story behind Australia's early years as an emerging nation. PRAISE 'Jackie French has a passion for history, and an enviable ability to weave the fascinating minutiae of everyday life into a good story.' -- Magpies Magazine

The Horse Who Bit a Bushranger
The Horse Who Bit a Bushranger

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 2010-08-01

Total Pages: 37

ISBN-13: 0730492680

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An exciting new tale of a brumby, a boy and a bushranger in the Animal Stars series. A story of survival, second chances ... and a dance with danger. Young Billy Marks is a pickpocket, transported to the penal colony of New South Wales. He reckons he'll become a bushranger - but that's before he's had a chance to see the bush up close. And when he buys the big white brumby stallion, covered with scars but refusing to bend to any man's will, he knows he made the right choice. Billy's daughter Mattie Jane thinks her father can ride any horse who ever lived ... and so can she! But when tragedy strikes, the Marks clan, including Mattie's beloved horse, Rebel Yell, will need all their courage to keep the family together. The deeds and disputed stories of Jackie French's own ancestors inspire another novel - a tale of proud horses, trailblazing farmers and their resilient wives, and desperate men forced to break the law to survive. PRAISE FOR ANIMAL STARS SERIES: 'beautifully written ... a significant addition to the books about Gallipoli' - ReadPlus.com.au 'marvel at Jackie French's versatility and her skill in making the past live for young readers' - Magpies

Clancy of the Overflow (The Matilda Saga, #9)
Clancy of the Overflow (The Matilda Saga, #9)

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2019-11-01

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1460709160

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From Australia's best-loved storyteller comes the final book in the bestselling Matilda Saga This is a love song to our nation, told in a single sweeping story Jed Kelly has finally persuaded her great aunt Nancy to tell the story of her grandparents. The tale that unfolds is one of Australia's greatest romances - that of Clancy of the Overflow, who gave up everything for Rose, the woman he adored, and yet still gained all he'd lost and more. But Nancy's story is not the history that Jed expects. More tales lurk behind the folklore that surrounds Clancy - the stories of the women hidden in Australia's long history, who forged a nation and whose voices need to be heard. It is also a story of many kinds of love. Clancy's growing passion for the bush, immortalised in Paterson's poem, which speaks to him in the ripple of the river and the song of the stars, and Nancy's need to pass on her deep understanding of her country. But perhaps the most moving love story of all is the one that never happened, between Matilda O'Halloran and Clancy of the Overflow. And as Jed brings all of these stories to life in her book, Matilda and Clancy will once again waltz beside the river and the forgotten will be given a new voice. PRAISE FOR THE MATILDA SAGA 'An engrossing mystery story, an ode to strong women, and a moving exploration of the private wounds we carry ... The Last Dingo Summer is a must for your summer reading list' -- Better Reading 'The perfect read for anyone who loves immersing themselves in Australian fiction. Gripping, emotional and moving, Facing the Flame is a great book to curl up with' -- New Idea 'Highly recommended ... this was a complete binge, read in one night because it was just too good and too gripping to put down ... a cracking story filled with rich characters both old and new and imbued with all that we hold dear about Australian love of country and mateship' -- ReadPlus

A Day to Remember
A Day to Remember

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2015-02-01

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 1460705084

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ANZAC Day seen through the eyes of generations of Australians. Ages: 7-12 Anzac Day is the day when we remember and honour Anzac traditions down the ages, from the first faltering march of wounded veterans in 1916 to the ever increasing numbers of their descendants who march today. Containing reference to the many places the ANZACs have fought, and the various ways in which they keep the peace and support the civilians in war-torn parts of the world today, this is a picture book that looks not only at traditions, but also the effects of war.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

Author: Wells Tower

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2009-03-17

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 142991484X

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Viking marauders descend on a much-plundered island, hoping some mayhem will shake off the winter blahs. A man is booted out of his home after his wife discovers that the print of a bare foot on the inside of his windshield doesn't match her own. Teenage cousins, drugged by summer, meet with a reckoning in the woods. A boy runs off to the carnival after his stepfather bites him in a brawl. In the stories of Wells Tower, families fall apart and messily try to reassemble themselves. His version of America is touched with the seamy splendor of the dropout, the misfit: failed inventors, boozy dreamers, hapless fathers, wayward sons. Combining electric prose with savage wit, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned is a major debut, announcing a voice we have not heard before.

To Love a Sunburnt Country
To Love a Sunburnt Country

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2014-12-01

Total Pages: 511

ISBN-13: 1743099843

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In war-torn Malaya, Nancy dreams of Australia - and a young man called Michael. The year is 1942 and the world is at war. Nancy Clancy left school at fourteen to spend a year droving, just like her grandfather Clancy of the Overflow. Now sixteen, Nancy's family has sent her to Malaya to bring home her sister-in-law Moira and baby nephew Gavin. Yet despite the threat of Japanese invasion, Moira resists, wanting to stay near her husband Ben. But not even Nancy of the Overflow can stop the fall of Singapore and the capture of so many Australian troops. When their ship is bombed, Nancy, Moira and Gavin are reported missing. Back home at Gibbers Creek, Michael refuses to believe the girl he loves has died. As Darwin, Broome and even Sydney are bombed, Australians must fight to save their country. But as Michael and the families of Gibbers Creek discover, there are many ways to love your country, and many ways to fight for it. From one of Australia's most-admired storytellers comes a gripping and unforgettable novel based on true events and little-known people. This is a story about ultimate survival and the deepest kinds of love. PRAISE 'A book about a love of country that is heartwarming and heartbreaking, and hard to put down.' -- Adelaide Advertiser, 4 stars

The Roving Party
The Roving Party

Author: Rohan Wilson

Publisher: Soho Press

Published: 2014-02-25

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1616953128

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"[An] exceedingly powerful debut. Wilson's compelling story carries us through forest and over plains, leaving a trail of dead men." —Alan Cheuse, The Chicago Tribune 1829, Tasmania. A group of men—convicts, a farmer, two free black traders, and Black Bill, an aboriginal man brought up from childhood as a white man—are led by Jon Batman, a notorious historical figure, on a “roving party.” Their purpose is massacre. With promises of freedom, land grants and money, each is willing to risk his life for the prize. Passing over many miles of tortured country, the roving party searches for Aborigines, taking few prisoners and killing freely, Batman never abandoning the visceral intensity of his hunt. And all the while, Black Bill pursues his personal quarry, the much-feared warrior, Manalargena. A surprisingly beautiful evocation of horror and brutality, The Roving Party is a meditation on the intricacies of human nature at its most raw.

The Dog Who Loved A Queen
The Dog Who Loved A Queen

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 2010-02-01

Total Pages: 54

ISBN-13: 0730444155

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Book 2 in the Animal Stars series - where history comes alive through the eyes of special animals. To outsiders, Mary is a queen and a threat, but to her devoted dog Folly, she is his world To the world outside her luxurious prison, Mary Queen of Scots was either a shameless beauty who killed her husband, or the rightful Queen of England and Scotland, tragically held captive by Elizabeth I. But to the dog who loved her, Mary was simply his mistress, and the centre of his world. While Mary desperately plotted to seize both her freedom and the throne, her dog Folly's world is one of chasing mice behind the tapestries and enjoying turkey legs with quinces for supper. Until the day comes when they try to take his Queen away ... Based on the true story of the dog who was with Mary when she died, the Dog Who Loved a Queen is a fascinating tale of religious bigotry, plots and passion - and the unquestioning loyalty of a small Scottish terrier.